


Christmas with The Formans

by nannygirl



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Based on Movie, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Family, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Romance, christmas with the kranks, holiday fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27705314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nannygirl/pseuds/nannygirl
Summary: Tired of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and now that all of the kids are grown and doing their own thing for the holidays, Red Forman convinces his wife, Kitty, that they should book a cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip Christmas. However, the idea doesn't go over well with their friends, neighbors, and the misfits that populate their basement.
Relationships: Eric Forman/Donna Pinciotti, Jackie Burkhart & Kitty Forman, Jackie Burkhart & Red Forman, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde, Kitty Forman & Steven Hyde, Kitty Forman/Red Forman, kitty Forman & Eric Forman
Comments: 41
Kudos: 26





	1. First Day of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well! This is one of my favorite fics and one I'm currently working on updating again very soon, just in time for the holiday season, so I thought I would bring it over here and hope it finds a new audience here too. It's a pure fluff piece with humor, family/friendship scenes, and some romance thrown in of course. It is based off the movie 'Christmas with the Kranks' every time I watch it I've thought what it would be like if Red (and Kitty) decided to skip Christmas and this is what I've come up with. Hoping to update pretty freqently, so please be sure to leave some kudos and comments if you can! Thanks in advance! Hope you like it!

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_December 1, 1983_

_5:37 P.M._

Kitty Forman was practically skipping her way down the basement steps, a bright smile on her face and a plate of fresh warm cookies in her hands.

“Okay, who’s ready for some Christmas…No, no!” she stopped mid question and said instead when she saw the two occupants standing by the room’s exit, dressed in their winter apparel. Her grin fell like a glass ornament slipping off a weak tree branch and the sad expression she wore on her face resembled the sad image of that broken decoration.

“I do not know what a ‘Christmas No No’ is but I shall take a yummy Christmas cookie!” Fez happily announced, from his seat on the old sofa before plucking a colorful cookie off the tray in Kitty’s hands.

Neither Fez’s words nor his actions were given any attention from Kitty. Her focus remained on the young couple who looked ready to leave her home, leave her celebration, and most importantly, leave her!

“It is the first day of Christmas,” she said as if she didn’t need to give this reminder. “And you two think you can just up and leave?”

Hyde stared back at his surrogate mother. He knew she enjoyed the holidays but this might have been going too far. “Mrs. Forman, it’s the first day of December, not the first day of Christmas.”

“It’s practically the same thing!” Kitty replied, her curls shook with her head.

“She’s right, Steven,” Hyde’s girlfriend nodded her confirmation. “It’s not our fault the guy in the song says there’s only twelve days of Christmas. December 1st is also an important date. December 1st means there are only twenty-four more shopping days till Christmas. It’s the one time of the year that days are counted by shopping days, I love it!”

Hearing the young girls excited squeal, Kitty hoped that it might mean she could get Jackie to back her up and maybe help her out by keeping Steven from taking off to wherever he was trying to sneak off to. It was the First day of Christmas! It was a day for family.

“December 1st is also the day that we start decorating the house and bake Christmas cookies, watch Christmas movies, do all those nice Christmas-y things…because it’s tradition, darn it!”

“Sorry, Mrs. Forman, I guess I forgot about the tradition,” Hyde apologized even though he knew the tradition had been skipped over since the year Forman had gone to Africa. “Didn’t even cross my mind when we made these plans.”

Kitty was surprised that plans had actually been made and the pair weren’t just trying to skip out on her decorating like she had imagined. It didn’t mean she was now okay with them leaving and not participating in the tradition but she would be willing to at least hear them out.

“Well, these plans better be gosh darn good plans for you to be missing out on our December first traditions,” Kitty said, her way of telling them she wanted to hear these so called plans.

Hyde glanced over at Jackie as if trying to gather courage from her, then looked back at the waiting Mrs. Forman, he drew in a breath. “We’re goin’ over to see W.B. and Angie. Figured since we didn’t get to see ‘em for Thanksgiving we’d go over now. Spend some time with ‘em ‘fore all the other commercialized holidays start up.”

Jackie had been smiling and nodding her head along to her boyfriend’s words but his comment about holidays being commercialized earned him a quick smack on the arm. Luckily Kitty didn’t appear to have heard that comment but had clearly heard all of the rest.

“Ooohhh!” she cooed, taking one hand off her cookie plate and placing it over her heart. Her face looked like she was about to cry and Hyde really wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “Oh, those are good plans! They are such good plans because you have such a _good_ heart, Steven. Why it is just the sweetest idea…”

“Is it sweet enough to make Steven’s rich dad go out and buy us really good and really expensive presents for Christmas?” Jackie interrupted Kitty’s gushing over the idea with an important question of her own.

Before Kitty could give her reply to Jackie, Hyde was sending an unamused look her way.

“Jackie…”

“What? Steven, this is the first time in years that I will know someone who can actually afford to get me the gifts that I really want for Christmas. Years Steven,” she tried to stress this as much as she could. “I am not letting this opportunity slip by me!”

Turning away from his girlfriend’s pointed index finger, Hyde looked over at his surrogate mother. She looked less angry but sadder, disappointed—and Hyde hated disappointing the woman who thought so highly of him, who had done so much for him. “Mrs. Forman, I feel bad about forgetting this whole December 1st thing. I can hold off on seein’ W.B….”

“No!” Two voices cut him off, one sounding more urgent than the other.

Hyde scowled at Jackie’s wide-eyed panicked expression until it suddenly turned into a sweet happy grin.

“Steven, sweetie, you should go see your father,” Kitty mustered up a smile that she hoped Steven would find reassuring. “He’s your family and Christmas is a time to spend with family.”

Swiftly Jackie nodded her head, “What Mrs. Forman said.”

When Kitty noticed that the young many still looked torn, she continued on. “Go, honey. I’ll be fine,” she pressed while literally giving him a small press on his upper right arm. “I’m happy you have your own family members that you can be excited to visit.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Hyde found himself admitting as a smirk twitched onto his lips. “Only other relative I was ever excited about seein’ was my Cousin Eddie on visitation days at the jail.”

Kitty’s eyes blinked rapidly as she took in this new revelation. “Well…this is certainly a step up from that!”

Though Hyde kept smirking and moved his head in a nod, Kitty had said the statement mostly for her own benefit; a way to remind herself that Steven had a much better and happier life now, with lots of people who cared about him and gave him all the love he deserved.

“We’ll help you with the decorating and all that when we get back Sunday,” Hyde touched her elbow as he made this promise.

 _He is such a good boy_ , Kitty thought as she smiled up at him. “Okay, I’d…Sunday?” her smile had sunken into a deep frown. “What happened to Friday and Saturday?”

Jackie and Hyde looked at each other, exchanging looks, and silently arguing over who’s turn it was to break bad news to Mrs. Forman. After a few moments of intense stares from Jackie and Zen ones from Hyde, Jackie knew it was her turn. She took a step forward, her hands nervously wringing together.

“Well, you see Mrs. Forman, since we’re leaving to Chicago pretty late and the roads are pretty icy, we thought we should stat the weekend over at Steven’s dad’s mansion so we don’t have to rush back on those dangerous roads,” Jackie tried to make her explanation dramatic and emotional in order to get Kitty to understand and approve of their plans, but the older woman simply stared back at her. Thinking quickly, Jackie’s index finger shot out at her boyfriend’s standing beside her. “It was all Steven’s idea!”

Hyde frowned at the petite brunette at his side, who was the original creator of their weekend plans. However, when she’d explained them to him her reasons were less about the dangerous roads and more about giving W.B. more time to know her and the gifts she wanted for Christmas.

A small sigh slumped Kitty’s shoulders, “I suppose that is smart thinking with all the snow they’re calling for tonight.”

“Okay, it was my idea,” Jackie announced, trying to appear humble.

“It’s getting awfully late,” said Kitty, after giving Jackie a small smile. “You two better get on the road before it gets too dark.”

“Mrs. Forman, I feel real guilty about all this,” Hyde’s tone of voice told just how much he meant the words.

“Oh honey,” she gave his arm another sympathetic rub. “Well okay, you can use that guilt when you’re out buying my Christmas present,” she broke out into one of her famous giggles. “I’m _kidding_ , sweetie. I’m fine. Go, have fun. Here take some cookies with you for the road.”

Kitty grabbed a least four of her sugar cookies and placed them in Jackie’s hand before repeating the process with Steven—but giving him an extra cookie to assure him there were no hard feelings.

“Thanks Mrs. Forman,” the couple echoed.

Smile in place, Kitty started to follow them as they walked out the door that would lead them outside of the basement. “Bye kids, be careful. And call when you get there!”

Jackie waved back few more times as she and Steven climbed up the concrete stairs, and then they were gone. Trying not to feel too sad, Kitty shut the door and looked around the nearly empty basement. It was sight that would have broken her heart if she hadn’t spotted the lone occupant in the room, munching on cookies and glued to the television set that played Frosty the Snowman.

“Okay Fez, I guess it’s just you and me,” Kitty was thrilled that she still had one kid left in her basement. One kid was better than none. “We don’t need the rest of them, in fact it’ll be better without them, more cookies for us!” she ended with a laugh.

The sound of Kitty’s jovial laughter only made Fez feel even more ashamed. “Aye Miss. Kitty, I do love your yummy sugar goodies but sadly I will have to say no,” he hung his head remorsefully just for a moment or two before smiling again. “I have plans to see some very pretty ladies.”

“Well,” she pressed her lips together making them form a thin line. “What if I told you I know a way you could some yummy cookies and be in the presence of at least one pretty lady?”

Fez’s eyebrows wrinkled close together as he watched Kitty struggling to hold back a giggle and then it dawned on him.

“Ah! I like where you are going with this,” he told her, his grin spreading onto his lips. “I shall take the yummy goodies with me!”

And without another thought or a quick glance at the fallen expression on Kitty’s face, Fez took the plate of cookies from her hands grabbed his coat and marched out the door with a big happy grin. The door shut with a slight slam, causing Kitty to jump before she nervously looked around the now empty room. It had been a long time since she’d seen this room completely empty. What was she supposed to do now?


	2. A Wonderful Awful Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and comments on the first chapter! I'm happy it's gotten some interest over here :D With How the Grinch Stole Christmas playing on TV tonight, I got inspired to post this next chapter today too. Kudos to you if you can catch why!

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_December 1, 1983_

_7:32 P.M._

“There’s my pretty lady,” Red greeted with a big grin, stepping into the kitchen from the driveway.

He was happy to finally be away from the bitter cold outside and back in the warmth of his home. It had been a long day at the shop and on the drive home in the freezing Toyota, Red found himself longingly thinking about getting home and being welcomed by one of his wife’s sweet and warm embraces. He’d sneak a few of the fresh from the oven cookies he knew she’d spent the day making, and maybe try to convince her to whip up some hot toddies for the two of them.

All those plans had come to a screeching halt though when Kitty didn’t greet him back. She didn’t even look his way. She just sat at the table, looking down sadly at the little lone snowman pepper shaker that she fiddled with in her hands.

Red’s smile was soon replaced with its usual scowl when he saw his wife’s state. This wasn’t how he should have found her on December 1st, last night she had talked on and on about all decorating she and the dumbasses were going to do…the dumbasses. Red quickly realized they must have been the reason behind why this snowman pepper shaker was the only Christmas decoration in the room and more importantly why Kitty looked so gloom.

“Oh crap. What did those dumbasses do?” Red asked, going straight into ass-kicking mode. You break his wife’s heart, he’d break your ass with his foot. “Did they say something to upset you? Just give me the name of the one who did it…no forget it,” he held out a halting palm. “I’ll kick all their asses.”

Kitty turned her head and saw her husband marching off towards the basement.

“Red, honey, no, no. Don’t,” she mustered up enough energy to call out to him, making him stop in his tracks and look back at her. “They’re not even down there. In fact, _that’s_ what they did wrong.”

“Wrong?” He repeated, walking his way back to the table to sit next to her. “Hell, Kitty, that sounds like the first right thing those dumbasses have done in the eighteen years they’ve spent polluting our basement.”

The sounds of Red’s chuckling had Kitty sending a glare his way. “This is not funny, Red. Do you see me laughing?”

He looked at the grave, very unhappy expression on her face and silenced his laugh before pulling down his smile. “No.”

“You’re darn right I’m not laughing because it’s not funny! My babies have left me! That is not funny!” she cried, tears forming in her eyes once more.

“Oh, come on Kitty,” Red tried to soothe, moving his arm over Kitty’s slumped shoulders, his smirk cautiously breaking onto his lips. “They can’t call be gone. Eric’s skinny, maybe you just couldn’t see him.”

Sniffling, Kitty shook her head, “Eric and Donna left back to Madison earlier today, they have class Monday and a big paper due.”

While Red was glad his son was buckling down with his school work, he didn’t like how upset his wife was now. “Well what about the kettlehead?” he suggested, “He’s gotta be superglued to something around here.”

“Michael might be superglued to something but it’s not around here. We haven’t seen him since Halloween,” she reminded him.

“That explains why we haven’t had to buy a new fire extinguisher in the last few weeks,” he commented before going down the list to the next forgotten misfit toy. “The foreigner?”

Kitty rapidly shook her head and the tears started again as her mind thought back to the scene that took place earlier. “He took my goodies and left!”

The frown on Red’s forehead sunk even further, he wasn’t sure what his wife was referring to but he didn’t like it and made a mental note to kick Tonto’s ass the next time he saw him “What about the loud one, she’s always here…”

“She and Steven went to go visit W.B. in Chicago for the weekend,” she explained, tired of having to retell the various reasons she was now alone.

“Huh, guess they really are all gone,” he mused out loud before his grin cracked onto his lips again. “Things stay like this and it could be a very merry Christmas!”

“Maybe for tiny hearted grinches like you,” Kitty pulled away and snapped back at him, clearly not sharing his sentiment about having an empty basement. “But for normal people like me, who enjoy seeing their family for the holidays, this is…is just _heartbreaking_!”

“Alright, first of all Kitty, normal people do not enjoy seeing their family for the holidays. No one enjoys seeing their family, holiday or no holiday,” Red wanted to make sure he made this point before continuing with his next. “Secondly, don’t you think _maybe_ you’re overreacting here?”

Kitty’s eyes widen with such fury they were sure to give Red flashbacks to not just war but the days of Kitty’s menopause.

“Overreacting?” she repeated, her voice losing its natural perkiness.

“I said maybe, now just, just hear me out,” he threaded carefully as he started to explain. “Sure, the kids are all gone today and if we’re lucky for the next day or two…” Red started imagining how nice it would be to have his house back but quickly remembered his wife who might not enjoy it as much. He smiled softly, taking her hand in his. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll be gone for good. Those dumbasses are like ants, Kitty. Every time we think we’ve gotten rid of them they come back, sometimes even more than before.”

While Kitty appreciated her husband’s attempt to cheer her up, she couldn’t find it in her to smile.

“Oh Red, I just don’t see that happening this time,” she sighed sadly and started to share some of the things she had spent her afternoon thinking about in place of decorating and baking Christmas things. “The kids are all growing up and living their own busy lives. And unfortunately, those busy lives just don’t have time for us right now. So, while they’re off doing alright Christmas of white I’ll be here all alone with a very blue Christmas!”

Red tried not to chuckle at his wife’s use of a Christmas song’s lyrics. “Kitty, it won’t be that bad. Hey, you’ll still have me.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she agreed almost dismissively until she caught sight of the hurt frown on Red’s forehead and she swiftly realized her mistake. “Oh! Red, oh honey, I didn’t mean that. I love you and I’m so happy that I have you to spend Christmas with.”

She got up from her seat and wrapped her arms around Red’s neck from behind, placing lots of little kisses on his balding head—but still missing was her famous smile.

“It’s just well, Christmas is always so much more fun when there are kids around. Remember how much fun the holidays were when Laurie and Eric were little?” she took a quick glance at the man she was still hugging and saw the faint smile on his lips as he recalled the old memories too. “With kids, Christmas has more magical and wonderment and…Red?”

“Kitty, I’m not getting you another kid for Christmas.”

Sadly, she removed her arms from around him. “Fine, then will you at least help me bake cookies and decorate the house?”

Looking at his wife, Red could tell that this really meant a lot to her. But he’d never done these things with his wife, sure he helped put up a few of the decorations that were to go up in high places Kitty couldn’t reach and he did the lights outside; but baking cookies and putting out the other Christmas knickknacks? She was trying to have him take the place of their kids, the next thing you’d know she’d be taking him to get a picture with the mall’s Santa Claus. Red was not going to let that happen.

“Tell you what,” he started the smile on his lips told that he thought this would be a good plan. “How about I help you get all the boxes of decorations up from the basement and help you taste test the cookies?”

A solemn expression appeared on Kitty’s face. “I suppose so,” she knew this would be the best deal she’d get. “It’ll be different but then again this Christmas is going to be so…so different. And not the good kind of different like the different kind of Christmas Tiny Tim got after Scrooge was visited by the three ghosts. This different Christmas will be more like the Christmas The Ghost of Christmas Future showed Scrooge he’d have if he didn’t change his ways.”

Only December 1st and already she was speaking in Christmas references.

“Maybe those dumbasses should get a visit from the ghost of my foot in their ass,” Red offered smugly.

But Kitty shook her head, “Oh Red, no, it’s, it’s Christmas. And I, well I wish we could just forget the whole thing.”

The corners of Red’s smug grin slowly began to droop while watching his wife sadly exit the kitchen and towards the living room, probably up to their bedroom, if Red had to guess. He wanted to follow her but knew she needed space. He wanted to kick the asses of the dumbasses who had upset his wife so much but didn’t know where they’d be. So instead he continued to sit at the kitchen table with no company aside from the little snowman pepper shaker that was smiling a little too happily for him.

Brows furrowed, Red turned the happy little guy away so he’d be smiling at the oven and not him. The he reached over and grabbed the mail that had been set at in the middle of the table.

He hoped he could find something in it to cheer Kitty up. Maybe a sales ad for somewhere he could buy her a special Christmas gift from or a coupon for a restaurant that he could take her out to dinner to. Instead he found nothing but bills, advertisements for upcoming holiday celebrations around town, and some Christmas cards from people Red couldn’t even put a face to.

Then he found it. A postcard for Kitty from her sister Paula. Red had only bothered to read the ‘to’ and ‘from’ parts of the card, the only other thing that interested him was the cover image of the card. There was a big white ship floating on the clear blue ocean sea. The sun was setting in background and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. There were small figures on the boat and though they were too small to see their faces, Red knew they had to be smiling.

Why wouldn’t they be? They were out on the ocean, Red’s time in the navy had given him great appreciation for being out on the water. They were out in the warm sun and not the damn snow, Red reminded himself he was going to have to salt the driveway again soon. And they were far away from their dumbass kids…

Red looked at the postcard some more and then he got an idea. Red got a wonderfully awful idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to let me know what you thought in the comments, would love to hear from you! Please don't let the fact that this chapter was only Red and Kitty stop you from reading/commenting, I love these characters and love writing them, I try to give them some time in the spotlight but sometimes others don't really like the fact that I've left out the more popular characters and it breaks my heart every time. So really even a simple 'nice job' in chapters like this really goes a long way for this writer. *gets off soapbox* Thank you!


	3. Skipping Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, anyone else just finish watching the lighting of the tree at Rockerfeller Center? Put me in the Christmas-y mood I had to update this fic. Thank you all for the super sweet and kind comments you left on the previous chapter I'm so thrilled that you liked it and it really meant so, so much to get some feedback on a RK focused chapter. Thank you! This chapter is another RK focused chapter but I promise we'll see the gang next chapter!

  
  


_December 2, 1983_  
_3:35 A.M._

Kitty’s pink slippers tiredly shuffled from the shaggy living room carpet and onto the kitchen’s patterned linoleum patterned flooring.

She and Red had gone to bed hours ago, but somewhere around midnight, Kitty had woken up when she felt an emptiness on the left side of the bed. She had brushed off his disappearance as a late night bathroom break or a sneak away for a midnight snack. However, when it was over three hours later and she’d rolled onto his side of the bed and found it cold and spacious, Kitty knew it was more than a late snack or bathroom break that was keeping her husband away.

If it had been a more decent hour of the day, Kitty would have put this disappearance together with the vanishing act he’d done just before dinner; but at three in the morning she just wanted to get her husband back into their bed and go back to sleep.

Eyes and body heavy with sleep, Kitty found Red in the kitchen but there was no unhealthy food or any other kind of midnight snack near him. In fact, the way Kitty had found him had her wondering briefly if she was still asleep and dreaming up the whole scene of Red seated at their kitchen table in his pajamas and bathrobe, reading glasses perched on his nose, and stacks of small paper scattered around him.

There was silence but also a light, rapid clicking sound. It took Kitty a moment or two before she realized the clicking sound was coming from the adding machine that rested beneath Red’s left hand

“Red, honey, what’re you doing?” she asked, stepping closer to him, her tone of voice showing how sleepy she still was. “It’s three thirty in the morning. Come to bed, honey.”

Now closer to where he sat, Kitty reached out and rubbed his shoulder softly, encouraging, trying to get him to follow her back upstairs. Red said nothing aside from a quick grunt as he continued to plug more numbers into the big calculator. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away from her touch but didn’t allow himself to relish in it too much just yet. He had to finish this!

As he bleary eyesight started to adjust and clear up, Kitty noticed that the stacks of paper that covered her previously spotless kitchen table were all receipts.

“Red, what is this?” she was frowning just a bit.

Silence and more clicks followed as Red punched in the last of the numbers into the adding machine.

“This Kitty,” Red pulled of his glasses and grinned. “Is Christmas.”

Kitty’s looked down at the receipts like they were piles of mud that had just been deposited on her clean table. She slowly shook her head, as she lowered herself into one of the empty chairs at the table. “This is not Christmas, Red. Christmas is snow and lights, love and happiness…Christmas is pretty!”

“Christmas is bills, Kitty,” replied Red, his expression now more somber and serious. “Look at all these receipts. I added it all up and last Christmas we spent two thousand six hundred thirty four dollars and seventy three cents on Christmas.”

“Now that, that just can’t be right,” she tried to argue but wasn’t doing so very firmly.

The information made Kitty not only nervous but shocked too. Ever since Red’s plant had started cutting back on hours all those years ago, they had been so good at keep track of their money and how they’d spend it. Could they really have gotten that carried away on Christmas last year?

Red ripped off the paper from the machine to let his wife see the grand total with her own eyes. “Checked it over twice.”

She pulled the slip of paper closer to her face then pulled it away again and blinked her eyes rapidly, but no matter the angle the number remained the same: _2,634.73_!

“Well,” a nervous giggle escaped her lips. “It was a _very_ merry Christmas last year.”

“Was it? What do you remember about last Christmas? What gifts to you remember giving or getting?” Red lifted his chin, in a challenging manner.

“Well…I…there…it…”Kitty struggled to come up with a response but couldn’t seem to recall much of the previous Christmas and that upset her.

“You see!” Red’s grin spread on his lips again and pointed his finger in her direction. “We’re emptying our pockets for Christmas here and once it’s over and done with, we’ve got nothing to show for it. Look at all this crap we spent money on last year,” he gathered up some of the receipts. “Lights, tree, ornament repairs, gifts, Christmas cards…almost two hundred dollars on baking supplies. How the hell did that happen?”

Kitty tittered anxiously in her seat. “Well there was that fundraiser at the church and then Fez…”

“I don’t care,” Red held out an open palm, halting her words before she could go on. “I don’t care because it doesn’t matter. It’s money we’ve spent and can’t’ get back anymore. None of this crap from last year matters anymore. All that matters is this.”

While Red’s grin started to make its reappearance on his face, he moved around several of the small white slips of paper until he found what he was it was he looking for.

The little pepper shaker snowman.

It wasn’t the little knickknack itself that Red had been on the hunt for, the little guy had finally proved to be of some use by holding Paula’s postcard in safe keeping. Moving the snowman and taking the card, Red slid it across the table until it was laid out in front of Kitty.

“What is it?” Kitty was confused but when she grabbed the photo for a better look, she flipped it over and swiftly spotted the familiar handwriting on the back. “Oh! Oh! Oh! It’s a postcard from my sister Paula! Aw isn’t that sweet…” there was a pause in her excitement as she tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle that Red had given her. “Oh my God! Did you get Paula to come visit for Christmas? Oh this is so exciting!”

A beaming smile in place, Kitty was now wide awake and bouncing with excitement at the idea of getting to see her sister for the holidays. She and Red hadn’t celebrated Christmas with Paula since their parents had moved to Arizona. And with Paula here that would mean she would have someone to do Christmas-y things with!

“No!” Red shouted a bit too loudly and harshly.

He hated the way Kitty’s smile had fallen so quickly but he couldn’t have her thinking that was his surprise. Inviting relatives over for the holiday was practically the opposite of Red’s plan.

He chuckled and cleared his throat, hoping to soften it slightly. “I mean no. No,” his voice went firm for that repetition. “Alright, forget about it being a postcard from your sister okay? And just check out the picture of that boat.”

“Red, this is not just a boat. It’s a cruise ship,” Kitty said like she shouldn’t have had to clear this up and she really thought she shouldn’t have had to, Red had been in the Navy! She shook her head, moving her attention back to the postcard and the image printed on it. “Paula’s taking another cruise. She called me before she left to tell me all about it and it sounds so magical!”

Kitty gave a dreamy smile as she thought back to the details her sister has shared with her, never noticing the way Red’s grin had started to grow a little broader. “There’s dining and dancing, fun tournaments…Oh! And every day is a different theme day! You should hear some of the themes that they have…” she stopped midsentence as it finally dawned on her what was going on. The receipts, the postcard, talk about Christmas… “Red Forman, are you getting me tickets for a cruise for Christmas?”

“You tell me,” Red was smiling a genuine smile as he pulled out some of the brochures he’d picked up from the travel agency he’d snuck off to just before dinner.

“Oh Red!” she half cooed, half cried, scooting to the edge of her seat and throwing her arms around his neck. “Oh, you are just the greatest, most wonderful, best husband!”

Her beaming smile disappeared only when Kitty moved her lips to cover Red’s for a very big thank you kiss. Red kissed her back and pulled her closer for just a moment, before forcing himself to pull away and out of her embrace. He didn’t want to but knew he had to. Based off Kitty’s reaction it sounded like she believed he was getting her tickets for a cruise as her Christmas gift and they’d be used sometime in January or so, but that wasn’t exactly where Red was going with this plan. His job wasn’t done yet.

“Look at this one Kitty,” he pulled a specific pamphlet holding his cruise of choice to the top of the stack. “A seven day cruise around the Hawaiian islands. We can go somewhere foreign looking without having to actually go anywhere foreign!”

Her husband’s excitement made Kitty’s smile grow as she giggled lightly. It was rare to see Red so excited about something like this, which made the sight even more welcomed and endearing.

“There’s all you can eat buffets, swimming pools, casinos, fishing and snorkeling…”the corners of his mouth tugged up even more. “I might even show you off on their dance floor a few nights.”

Kitty bashfully giggled and picked up the brochure, flipping through its photos. “Oh Red, it sounds like so much fun and so romantic too and…” suddenly her smile dropped as she remembered ‘fun’ and ‘romantic’ were exactly Red’s areas of expertise. There had to be more to it and so with her smile gone and a blank look on her face she asked, “What’s the catch?”

“What?” Red tried to sound hurt at the accusation.

“The catch, Red,” Kitty’s tone told that she would not be fooled, she said it once more putting great emphasis on the word. “ _The catch_.”

Now it was him who was nervously shifting in his seat, “Well I wouldn’t call it a catch…I think it’s a lot more of a perk…”

“Red.”

It was now or never…

“We skip Christmas.”

“We skip Christmas?” Kitty echoed his words in a much louder tone.

She was now sure that not only had this all been a dream but it was a dream turned nightmare!

“We skip Christmas save some money and spend money on ourselves for a change,” Red explained, doing his best to stay positive and excited as he spoke.

“Oh right,” scoffed Kitty, tossing the cruise pamphlet onto the table. “Because going on a cruise is a great way to save money. Just how much is this little cruise idea of yours?”

Red’s smirk grew like he was happy she had asked. “One thousand seven hundred and fifty.”

“We’d save money?” she asked in disbelief, reaching for the advertisement again.

“That’s right,” Red was prideful in his grin.

Kitty stared down at the brochure for a moment before looking back up at her husband, appearing conflicted and torn. “Oh. Oh, Red, it sounds lovely. It really does but I just don’t know if we could skip Christmas. It’s Christmas. It’s not the kind of holiday you can skip over…like apparently the holiday of my birthday.”

Her words made him close his eyes and drop his head back—he hated being reminded of that mistake he’d made years ago.

“Kitty, I didn’t skip your birthday I just forgot it,” he tried to make it sound better but only got a sharp glare in return, Red cleared his throat and changed the topic of conversation, he couldn’t have her mad at him for this. He gave her a nervous smile as he went on. “But that’s not what we’re talking about, we’re talking about Christmas. Let’s skip it this year Kitty, what do you say?”

“Red, how can we skip Christmas?” Kitty wanted to know, “It’s Christmas, I love Christmas.”

As Kitty’s voice softened so did the expression on her husband’s face, only she didn’t see it and was instead looking down at her hands, watching as both her hands were covered by Red’s left one.

“I know you do, sweetheart, I love that you love Christmas,” he gave her hands a small squeeze. “But you said it yourself, the kids are growing up and this Christmas will be well, different.”

Pressing her lips together and looking around the room, Kitty tried to find something to distract her from thinking of the sadder events from earlier. She could feel the tightness in her throat and the tears brimming in her eyes but she refused to cry over it another time.

“The dumbasses will be busy doing their own thing, and now we can do ours,” Red continued to speak. “I thought this could be a way to cheer you up a bit, keep you from getting depressed over the holidays.”

Kitty gave him a tight lipped smile. “That’s sweet, Red but…”

“Just this one year, Kitty!” he threw in before she could give the official ‘no’ to the idea. “We skip Christmas just this one year and if we decide to make it a new tradition, even better!”

For several moments, Kitty sat there musing over the option Red had given her, she took into consideration her love for the holiday but also all the valid points her husband had made. Red meanwhile, watched her intently; being married for so long, he knew that her taking the time to consider things instead of giving a flat out ‘No’ was a good sign; but he couldn’t rush her.

“Well,” she at last spoke, her tone still sounding a bit torn. “We really haven’t been on a nice vacation, just the two of us, for more than the weekend since Laurie was born.”

“Gotta do it again before one of us croaks,” was Red’s form of agreement.

“And I suppose skipping Christmas wouldn’t be _that_ terrible,” she shrugged her shoulders slightly before smiling once again. “After all, it’s the parts leading up to Christmas that’s the most fun. Putting up the tree, buying gifts, singing Christmas carols…”

Red’s grin dropped, “About that Kitty,” he coughed and cleared his throat again. “We can’t do any of that.”

“What?”

“Look Kitty, once you get the tree, you’ll want to decorate it and buy new ornaments. Then after decorating you’ll think the damn thing won’t look complete until it’s got presents underneath it.” Red explained the snowball effect he was trying to avoid. “You’ll go out and buy a bunch of gifts and pretty soon we’ll be going on a cruise _and_ doing Christmas.”

“Well, now, that doesn’t sound too bad,” she smiled at the idea of getting to go on the cruise and getting Christmas too.

Red sighed, part of him wishing he could give her this. “We can’t afford that, Kitty. We skip Christmas, it’s gotta be a total blackout,” he told her, “No tree, no spending hours untangling lights, no gifts for the dumbasses, no nothing.”

“This is just a dream come true for you, isn’t it?”

A smirk twitched onto his lips and he moved his chair close enough to where he could wrap his arm over her shoulders. “Being back on the open sea, under the warm sun, with my girl by my side, can’t think of a better dream than that.”

“Well, that does sound pretty dreamy,” Kitty had to admit, resting her head on his shoulder for just a moment before it popped back up. “And it would finally get Paula to stop bragging on and on about all the fancy shmancy cruises she’s been on.”

“You can send her a postcard instead of a Christmas card,” Red was happy to suggest. “Hell, you can send everyone a postcard. I know how much you like writing those.”

“I do and you know,” Kitty’s tone of voice and smile became more playful and flirty as she snuggled closer to him. “I’ve always wanted to see my sailor out on the open sea.”

His smirk was just as playful and his eyes held a twinkle, “I’ll bring my uniform hat.”

Kitty giggled with such glee that Red found himself joining in on the laughter until she suddenly stopped and looked up at him, going serious again.

“Skipping Christmas is not going to be easy, you know,” she wanted to remind them both.

“I know.”

“And I don’t know if you realize this but your Christmas blackout would include you not getting any of my Christmas cookies that you love so much.”

Red’s smile was still intact. “If you wanna go on this cruise, I’ll make the sacrifice and wait another year for the cookies.”

She pressed her lips together, trying to contain her smile, she couldn’t believe she was getting excited about the idea of skipping the most wonderful time of year! But a fun, romantic getaway with her husband sounded so nice…a lot nicer than the way this year’s Christmas celebration had started off.

“When do we leave?”

This was Kitty’s ‘yes’ and Red’s grin doubled in size when he realized it.

“High noon, Christmas day.”

It was going to take some getting used to the idea of skipping Christmas, Kitty was sure but at this moment all she could think about was the luxurious cruise her husband had planned for them. The fact that he came up with idea and acted on it all as a part of a way to cheer her up and help keep her from feeling lonely and forgotten, warmed her heart. She quickly threw her arms around his neck for another great big kiss that this time Red had no reason to pull away from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please don't forget to let me know what you think of the chapter, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Next chapter, Red and Kitty share the news of skipping Christmas with the gang. How will they react? Stay tuned!


	4. Breaking the News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry about the delay in this next chapter. December is always a crazy month and even tho these chapters are ready to be posted, finding the time and energy to actually post sometimes is harder than I thought it would be. But the kind words of motivation and kudos from you have really helped. Thank you! The gang is back and they're about to find out about Red's plan. Hope you like, thanks for reading, please don't forget to let me know what you think, and as always please, Enjoy!

  


_December 5, 1983_  
_9:05 A.M._

“Hi, Mom.”

The voice came as such as a surprise to Kitty that she stopped sliding her spatula under the ready to flip pancake on the stovetop and instead turned to her right, spotting two familiar smiling faces.

“Oh Eric! Oh honey!” she practically threw the spatula before she ran to her son and yanked him into a great big welcoming hug; pulling away from the hug only to give a similar bone crushing hug to his girlfriend. “Oh Donna! Oh!”

Kitty released Donna from her tight grip then seconds she had both Eric and Donna wrapped up in her arms for a hug even bigger than before. For a small woman, Kitty’s hugs were very strong, Donna figured it must have been the super strength moms used during certain times, like lifting cars off their children and hugging them when they made a trip home from college.

Eric looked over his mother’s blonde head and sent his lady an apologetic glance to which she just smiled back at.

“Oh, this is such a wonderful surprise!” Kitty sounded tearful but there was a smile on her face. “It is so good to see you both. It feels like I haven’t seen you in months.”

“Mom, we were here like three days ago,” reminded Eric in a flat tone and expression to match.

She pulled her head far enough to meet her son’s eyes but not so far that she had to let him or Donna out of her hug. Her eyes held his sternly, “And it _felt like months_.”

Donna gave a light, quick laugh. “We missed you too, Mrs. Forman.

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Kitty was so touched, she freed them from her embrace. “Now, what brings you two by for this lovely surprise?”

Spotting his girlfriend’s mouth beginning to open, Eric jumped in before she could say a word. He didn’t want his mom knowing the reasons they’d had to come back to town so soon after leaving it, but he especially didn’t want his father finding out about it. If his mom knew the real cause for this quick visit it wouldn’t be long before Red found out too.

He flashed his mom a grand smile. “No special reason, I just missed me beautiful, caring, one of a kind mother…”

Kitty covered her heart with her hand and started to awe while Eric outstretched his arms to prepare for a hug. The whole scene made Donna roll her eyes and scoff.

“Eric, forgot his homework here,” she shared the truth with Kitty causing the fall of Eric’s arms as well as his mother’s smile. “Can you believe that? It’s like the oldest excuse in the book and now, _in college_ , it’s actually true for him.”

“Hey, it could be worse. I could’ve said my dog ate it,” Eric promptly pointed out.

The redhead’s brows furrowed together, “We don’t have a dog.”

“Exactly my point,” declared Eric and his whirling index finger.

“Well, I think it’s still very sweet you made the trip to come and get it and of course, see me,” Kitty shared giving a giggle, her smile had formed on her lips once more. “After all, I could have just mailed it to you.”

“Yeah,” Eric seemed to drag out the one syllable word. “This paper’s actually due today at five, Mom. Pretty sure my professor wouldn’t accept a late submission with or _without_ a postmark.”

Shaking her head at her son’s snarky-ness, Kitty returned to her pancakes. “Well I’m afraid I haven’t seen anything up here so you might want to check the basement.”

Donna and Eric promptly left to check the basement, Eric in a bigger hurry since it was his essay and Donna had come along only to help him look for it. She had her own class to get back to at four. They made their exit, just barely missing the entrance of their foreign friend.

“Good morning, Miss. Kitty,” he greeted, stepping into the kitchen.

“Hello there, Fez,” Kitty offered a smile and returned to her task of pouring pancake batter onto her pan. “We didn’t see you all weekend! Did things go well with all the pretty ladies you went to go meet?”

Placing his hands on the back of his hips, Fez grinned largely. “Oh yes, they were as yummy as your Christmas goodies.”

Not sure how to respond to that, Kitty let out one of her infamous nervous giggles until she could figure out something to say.

“Did you happen to meet one special pretty lady?”

Fez nodded, “Yes, Chris.”

“Chris?” repeated Kitty with a frown indented on her forehead. Chris was a boy’s name wasn’t it? Maybe it was short for something, or maybe Fez had met a nice pretty boy? “Is, is that short for something?”

“It is,” Fez confirmed, still grinning. “Her name is Christmas.”

“Oh,” cooed Kitty, all the feelings of nervousness and worry slipping away. “She told you she was named after Christmas? Oh, that is so lovely…”

“Oh no, Miss. Kitty. She did not tell me anything,” he made sure to clear up. “I guessed because ‘Chris’ is short for Christmas.”

Her hands wringing together, Kitty nodded, trying to understand where the young man was coming from. “Well yes, while you are right about that, ‘Chris’ can also be short for Kristen or Christina.” Her hands clapped in triumph, “Oh! I bet her name is Christine!”

Christine? Fez’s smile dropped at the suggestion. “Aye no, that is not very Christmas-y,” he sulked and then sunk into a seat at the table. “Now I am even too sad to show you your surprise.”

“Surprise?” she perked up at hearing this, “What surprise?”

Still saddened by the news of his new lady friend not being named after his second favorite holiday, Fez stretched her arms out to pull open the sliding kitchen door for the unexpected visitor: Santa Claus! He was missing his red suit and was much taller than described but he had the red hat, long white beard, and jolly laugh to go along with it.

“Ho, ho, ho!” came his booming laugh.

Kitty looked as excited as any kid might be to see Santa this time of year, of course she had a good suspicion this wasn’t the real Santa Claus under there.

“Michael Kelso, is that you under there?”

The fuzzy white beard was pulled down, revealing the man pretty face.

“Man, I knew this ugly beard wouldn’t be able to hide my handsomely good looks.”

“Oh Michael, sweetie,” Kitty pulled him into a hug. “I haven’t seen you since Halloween. And even then, I couldn’t see you with that big pumpkin stuck on your head!” she laughed at the memory.

“Yeah, I know, it’s been a pretty busy time. But I thought I should stop by cuz it’s the holidays,” Kelso shared and Kitty smiled as she watched him slip into the kitchen seat beside Fez. “And cuz I knew you’d be making your Christmas shaped pancakes. This year, I’m thinking, a T-Rex wearing a Santa hat and a _ginormous_ Christmas tree in the background.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kitty assured making Kelso grin.

As Kitty stepped away from the table and back towards the stove, her own smile diminished into a look of worry. How was she supposed to make her special Christmas pancakes if she and Red were skipping Christmas? A total blackout is what her husband had said and that had to include her snowman, Santa beard, and even reindeer shaped pancakes. But these boys were expecting those pancakes and now that her son was home to pick up his essay he’d surely ask for some too.

She couldn’t tell them that she wouldn’t be making Christmas this year because there wouldn’t be any Christmas celebrations in her home. Mostly because she didn’t think her heart could take their sad little faces, but also because of the fact that part of her agreement to Red’s plan included him being the one to break the news to their kids. He’d almost too eagerly agreed to it, but where was he now?

Kitty’s thoughts were interrupted by another morning greeting of her name and she quickly turned around to see Steven and Jackie emerging from the basement.

“Good morning you two,” she welcomed, pressing on a new smile. “How was your trip to see W.B.?”

“Great!” Jackie beamed, making herself comfortable in a kitchen seat while Hyde was frogging Kelso so he could take claim of his usual chair that was also beside Jackie’s. “I left him two copies of my wish list. One in the guestroom and the other in his kitchen.”

Having taken back his chair, Hyde gave his own non-gift related reply. “It was pretty cool. W.B. says ‘hi.’”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Kitty smiled softly but there was a slight switch in her tone when she spoke again. “Jackie, sweetie, did you spend the night here?”

Though they were now in their early twenties, Hyde and Jackie looked at each other wide-eyed and feeling like the two high schoolers who’d been caught snuggling in Hyde’s old cot. They momentarily forgot the story they’d come up with to use in case they were caught in this time too. Luckily, it was Kitty who caught them and her stare had more concern than the anger Red would’ve probably had.

“Uh yeah,” Jackie nodded and tried not to look too guilty as she continued. “But don’t worry, Mrs. Forman. I took Steven’s bed and made him sleep on the couch.”

“Man, it’s like you guys are married already,” came Kelso’s comment from the peanut gallery.

Kelso was lucky he was seated further away now because if he was closer to Hyde he would’ve received an early Christmas present of hard punch to the arm. The last thing Hyde needed was Jackie thinking about marriage again.

Wanting to keep his mind off it, and since Jackie didn’t appear to have noticed Kelso’s comment, Hyde turned to his adopted mother. “We got back pretty late Mrs. Forman. Didn’t feel like driving Jackie back to her place.”

Jackie’s head gave her confirmation. “Right. And I thought me staying here could give us an early start for working on our Christmas cards!” her announcement was cheerful and excited, the mirror opposite of the expression that Kitty wore on her face. “I can’t wait to tell everyone about all my accomplishments this past year.”

“And wish ‘em happy holidays,” reminded Hyde.

“Yeah, yeah” the brunette’s hand moved in the air like it was shooing a fly away. “But that’s just a tiny line you throw on at the end.”

Kitty moved her palms over her stomach and pressed down slightly as if that would stop the twisting uneasy feeling she felt happening inside her. She so loved writing out the Christmas cards and while she’d made her peace with not writing them this year, Kitty couldn’t get over the fact that here was another Christmas tradition the kids were expecting her to participate in…where was all this Christmas spirit on December 1st?

She did her best to stay strong as she spoke to Jackie about the idea. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Jackie, but…”

“Yeah and Mrs. Forman, I cleared up the next two days to help you deck up the house,” Hyde informed, not able to help the way the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Oh!” Kitty’s hand flew to her heart as her voice broke. “Oh, Steven. That, that is just the sweetest…”she suddenly realized her voice wasn’t the only thing breaking. Kitty wasn’t sure she was going to be able to do this and so she did the only think she could think of. “Red!”

Confused and panicked filled those seated at the kitchen table when they heard the woman call out for her husband desperately. Which one of them had done something wrong?

“Mrs. Forman?” Hyde’s twitching lips ceased.

Jackie was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong. I just, I need Red,” she tittered nervously, taking two plates of pancakes to the table. “Here have some pancakes. _Red_!”

As soon as the pancakes were dropped in front of him and Fez, a scowl sunk onto Kelso’s forehead. “Hey, where’s my Santa hat wearing T-Rex?”

“Yes, these are not Christmas pancakes,” Fez lifted his round regular shaped pancake off its plate to examine it better. “They are just boring circle pancakes. What the hell?”

“No, no, they’re not boring they’re, they’re festive!” Kitty’s rambling and laughter were done so nervously. “These pancakes aren’t just circles, they’re snowballs! See?” She was not going to be the one to break this news to them, “ ** _Red_**!”

While Fez examined his breakfast more thoroughly, trying to figure out what made a snowball shaped pancake different from a regular circle pancake, the two missing group members reentered the kitchen. Clutched in Eric’s hand were the sheets of notebook paper he’d been searching for.

“Well, I found my essay and have a few minutes to spare,” he announced though no one seemed to be listening. “I thought I’d fill the extra time by enjoying some Christmas pancakes.”

Another one who wanted Christmas pancakes! Kitty’s anxious emotions were starting to fade into annoyance. When she wanted them to do Christmas things with her they were too busy and now that they were ready for Christmas they just expected her to be too! Part of her really did want to make these special pancakes for them, but a bigger part of her was wondering where the heck her husband was!

“Red!” she shouted just as he pushed through the swinging door.

“Jeeze, Kitty, I heard you the first time. What…” Red stopped mid grumble when he saw that once again his home was filled with strays. “You see, Kitty? I told you they’d be back.”

Turning her back to the table of friends, Kitty looked up at her husband and nervously placed her hand at the back of her neck. “Red, honey, the kids are here today because they, they wanna write Christmas card, put up decorations, and eat Christmas pancakes.”

His frown lessened; Red figured his wife would be faced with the challenge of being asked to do Christmas things during the month but he didn’t expect it to happen so soon! “Oh. Did you tell them?”

“No,” Kitty’s head shook. “Because we agreed _you_ would tell them.”

“Fine,” he muttered.

Eric had been watching his parents cautiously. “Tell us what?”

“Oh man,” cried Kelso before either of the elder Formans could speak. “One of us is dying, I know it.”

“No, no, no” Kitty shook her head, quickly trying to stop the fear she could already seeing in poor Fez’s eyes. “No one is dying. It’s just, well, Red?”

“Right,” Red nodded and then cleared his throat as he stepped towards the crowd of young adults. “Well, um...”

At first Red wasn’t sure how to put the words, he felt even a bit nervous, but those feelings didn’t last long when he reminded himself of what he and his wife would be doing come December 25th. It was with this thought in mind that Red moved his arm around Kitty’s back, pulling her to his side, puffed out his chest a bit, and grinned broadly.

“Your mother and I have decided that this year we’re not doing Christmas,” Red declared with a growing grin, beside him Kitty smiled more than a little nervously.

The announcement received a wave of silence and a few puzzled stares.

“How do you not do Christmas?” Donna’s question broke the silence.

Red shrugged, “Well, you skip it.”

“Oo skipping Christmas,” Fez happily smiled, his mind filling with the idea of doing all the Christmas actives but while skipping too! “That sounds like fun!”

“Fez, no,” Jackie’s voice was quite stern and serious. “Skipping Christmas doesn’t mean fun. It means we’re not getting any presents!”

The foreigner’s eyes grew large with horror and he gasped loudly, “No!”

“Jackie, come on, I think you’re overreacting a little here,” Eric appeared surprisingly calm about this and even as he continued. “I mean Mom and Dad might be skipping Christmas but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna get any presents. Right, Mom?”

“Well, we don’t want you kids to get us any gifts either, honey.”

Eric lost all calmness and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “What? Oh my God!” he screeched out, “ _Seriously_? We’re not getting like any gifts?”

“Not giving gifts at Christmas time is illegal!” Michael Kelso shouted over the commotion. “And I’m a cop so I know all the rule laws and stuff.”

His threat didn’t scare Red, “Rule laws, dumbass?”

“Yeah,” Kelso scoffed, obviously just as upset as the others. “And you’re violation of one right now, buddy.”

Red rolled his eyes as more questions and concerns were being thought up by the group.

“Wait,” Donna wanted to make sure she was fully understanding this. “Mr. Forman, you and Mrs. Forman aren’t doing Christmas?”

“Nope,” he answered with a grin, but the redhead wasn’t done.

“No Christmas tree? No Christmas gifts? No Christmas decorations...”

A halting palm came up in front of Red, “Donna, let me stop you right there,” he was still ginning. “If it has the word ‘Christmas’ in it, we’re not doing it.”

Jackie gasped with a sudden realization, “What about the Christmas Eve party?”

“Ah, that’s got the word Christmas in it,” came Red’s unapologetic response.

Fez pouted sadly, “But we always spend Christmas Eve here.”

“He’s right,” Jackie nodded with great determination as if that would change Red’s mind. “What’re we supposed to do now? Where’re we supposed to go?”

Moving his lower lip over his top one, Red shrugged his shoulders. "I’m sure you’ll figure out something. After all, you figured out plenty of other things to do the other day when Kitty wanted you all to help her decorate.”

Looks of guilt were exchanged between some and others just averted their gaze down to their feet. Seeing the bunch look so sad and ashamed made Red smirk rather evilly; but for Kitty it was a heartrending scene. She was just about to speak up when her son beat her to the punch with a rather confident tone of voice.

“So you aren’t doing Christmas or Christmas Eve,” he recapped what they’d learned. “Can I ask what you are doing?”

Red grinned like he had been waiting all weekend for this moment. “I’m taking you mother on a cruise!”

“Oh, so you have money for a cruise but you cannot buy us presents?” the fuming foreigner’s question sounded much more like a statement.

Narrowing his eyes at his former son-in-law, Red replied, “Not that it’s any of your business _Haji_ , but the reason we can afford to go on this cruise is because we’re not getting anyone any gifts, because we’re not doing Christmas.” He stood up a little straighter, “Now, if you dumbasses don’t like it, there’s the undecorated door.”

Kelso was the first to stand up from his seat and head towards the sliding door that Red had pointed at.

“Man, I can’t believe I came all the way from Chicago for regular shaped pancakes,” he whined, grabbing his Santa attire before making his exit.

Fez was right behind him grabbing a handful of pancakes as he stood. “They still look yummy.”

Kitty smiled faintly but it didn’t last very long, when she saw her son getting up from his seat too.

“Come on, Donna, let’s go,” he said and then they were gone.

Jackie was slowly shaking her head, her eyes squinting into a frown, “Oh, this is so going in my Christmas card’s newsletter!”

She then proceeded to march her way out of the kitchen and back down to the basement; her heeled boots made loud stomping sounds, expressing just some of her anger. With Jackie gone, there was only one person left at the table.

“Steven, honey,” Kitty called softly, she couldn’t remember him saying a single word during this whole thing. “You’ve been awfully quite over there.”

Hyde shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t look upset or sad, he just sat there, Zen. “Skipping a commercialized holiday like Christmas sounds pretty cool to me,” he admitted, a smirk breaking onto his face. “If it goes well for you two, might think of doing it myself next year.”

Red smiled and nodded his head in approval while Kitty looked up and shook her head at this new similarity that the two men now shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Yay? Nay? If you have a moment I'd love to read your thoughts, short or long :D
> 
> Next time, the news has to be broken to one more person. Can you guess who?
> 
> Till then thanks for reading!


	5. Telling the Neighbors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, here's the next chapter to the story. Thank you so, so much for the incredibly kind comments you've left on this story, it means so much. I am so happy that there are a few people interested in this story. I promise we're gonna see more of the other characters as well as Red and Kitty but for once those two are the stars of a multi chapter story, hope you don't mind.

  
_  
  
_  


_December 8, 1983_  
_6:34 P.M._

Red carried the kitchen trash out to the driveway with an extra pep in his step. He and Kitty had made it through the first week of December without a hitch! Of course, Red knew that it would likely only get tougher as the holiday got closer but for now he was enjoying what this whole Skipping Christmas plan had brought—or in this case what it hadn’t brought.

There was no untangling an endless number of Christmas lights for an endless number of hours, his wife wasn’t overstressed with Christmas shopping and planning, and since they’d told them they wouldn’t be doing Christmas this year, the gang of misfit toys had been hadn’t been over to the house much.

He should have come up with this idea years ago!

Just as Red was depositing the hefty bag into the tin can, his neighbor Bob Pinciotti strolled across his own yard and over to the driveway.

“Hi there, hey there, ho, ho, ho, there!” greeted a jolly Bob.

“Hi Bob,” Red’s own greeting was dry, he didn’t even look at the man and instead closed the lid of the trashcan. “What do you want?”

“Aw, I don’t want anything Red…unless Kitty’s started making some of her special chocolate Christmas cookies?” Bob looked over Red’s shoulder and tried to peek into the kitchen to see if he could spot the yummy treats.

“She hasn’t,” the taller man replied, smirking just slightly because unlike Bob, he knew Kitty wouldn’t be making those cookies till _next_ Christmas.

Bob tried not to look too disappointed with his lopsided grin. “Oh, then I don’t want anything.”

“Then what’re you doing here?”

“Well,” he chuckled at himself, “I was gonna say I was in the neighborhood but I’m always in the neighborhood since I moved back here and all from Florida…”

Red’s scowl showed little amusement and even less interest in whatever Bob was rambling on about. “Get on with the point, Bob.”

“Alright, okay. Well, I just got off the phone with Donna and she told me something pretty funny,” Bob started laughing again, “Oh you’re gonna love this! She said, you and Kitty were skipping Christmas. Ha ha ha! Funny stuff huh?”

“Yeah, it’s a hoot,” Red agreed with the smile his scowl had flipped into. “It’s also the truth.”

Instantly Bob’s laughter and grin vanished from existence, “What?!”

“We’re skipping Christmas this year.”

“But you can’t do that!” Bob was quick to argue.

Having the pudgy usually overly happy guy raise his voice at him, had Red’s brows lifting up quite a few inches. It was surprising but not intimidating, Red would give the guy props for trying but if anyone was going to be doing any intimidating it would be him, not Bob.

With this thought it in mind, Red stuck his hands in his pockets and raised his chin making himself taller as he looked down at Bob. “Oh? I can’t?”

“Well, maybe _you_ can,” the other man did have to admit that if anyone could get away with skipping a holiday it would be Red Forman. “But you shouldn’t! I mean Red, nobody skips Christmas. The only people who skip Christmas are the people who aren’t luck enough to celebrate it or those that can’t afford…” Bob suddenly drifted off as a sad thought entered his mind and he struggled not cry—it didn’t work. “Aw jeeze! Aw, Red, I didn’t know things were so bad at the shop!”

Red scowled at the weeping mess next to him. He wasn’t sure what upset him more, Bob thinking his business was tanking or that for the umpteenth time the guy was crying in front of him!

“Oh dammit Bob, stop blubbering,” he barked out the order and Bob sniffled trying to contain his tears. “We’re not skipping Christmas because we can’t afford it. We’re skipping it because the kids weren’t gonna be here. They’re out doing their own thing, so now Kitty and I are gonna do ours.”

Bob’s lower lip quivered, “The kids aren’t gonna be here either? That’s even sadder!”

As Bob wrenched out a new wave of tears, Red looked skywards for help. He was just about to sneak off back into the house when Kitty stepped out from it and onto the driveway where he and Weeping Winey stood.

“Hello, boys…Oh Bob, why are you crying?” she asked the moment she spotted Bob; because Bob was crying too much to answer her Kitty turned to her husband—she really hoped he wasn’t the reason behind it. “Red, was is Bob crying?”

Frowning at the man, Red answered his wife. “Because he’s a dumbass.”

“Bob, what’s wrong? Did you watch ‘Frosty the Snowman’ again?” Kitty gave Bob’s arm a s sympathetic rub.

Shaking his head ‘no’ Bob managed to control his tears and used the sleeve of his printed shirt as a tissue—making Kitty’s face squish in disgust, not that Bob seemed to notice.

“It’s just so sad,” he said between sniffles. “You and Red having to skip Christmas because you can’t afford to have all the kids here…”

Red rolled his eyes. How the hell had the guy come up with this stuff? He told him what was going on. Hadn’t Bob been listening to him?

“Oh Bob, no. It’s not that we can’t afford it,” Kitty started to explain, her smile starting to stretch onto her lips. “In fact, the money we would have spent on Christmas we’re going to use it to go on a cruise!”

Like magic, Bob stopped crying and grinned largely. “Oo! That sounds like fun!” He watched Kitty smiling and nodding her head in agreement. “Oh, you think they’ll have any Mai Tais? I just love those drinks with the little umbrellas. They make me feel like a giant.”

Kitty giggled, happy to see her friend more cheerful. “Well I’m sure they do. And I’ll even save you some of those teeny umbrellas from my drinks,” she laughed again and Bob’s smile grew as well. “Oh, you should see the brochures that Red brought home. There’s dancing and buffets and luau nights…”

“Boy, that sure does sound like fun! Hey Red…”

“You can’t come with us, Bob,” Red answered before the question could even be asked.

Bob gave a sheepish smile, “Okay, well maybe next year.”

“Maybe,” Red cautiously agreed. He had to be careful or else if he and Kitty decided to go on a cruise again next year, they’d have everyone tagging along with them and it’d be just like Christmas only on a boat—which meant fewer places for him to hide out in.

“I’m just happy you two aren’t skipping Christmas ‘cause of money troubles. And even though you won’t be celebrating Christmas, at least you’ll still have each other,” Bob said his words with a smile and they had the married couple exchanging their own smile until their neighbor continued on. “I could never do that. And not just I’m single at Christmas but ‘cause…no, it’s mostly ‘cause of that.”

“Oh Bob, I’m sorry.” Now Kitty felt just terrible, maybe even worse than how she felt when she and Red broke the news to the kids.

At least the kids would have each other to celebrate the holidays with, either all together or on their own as couples. Knowing she wouldn’t have to worry about any of them being lonely for the holiday was part of the reason she’d agreed to Red’s Skipping Christmas scheme. She had forgotten about poor Bob, who’d spent Christmas Eve and Day with them ever since Midge had left him.

“Aw, it’s okay,” Bob put on another cheerful smile. “It gives me more time to play Santa at the mall.”

“Oh well that is good news,” Kitty grinned, feeling a little better now that she knew Bob had some holiday plans. “Yay!”

Chuckling along with Kitty’s giggle, Bob nodded till he remembered something else he wanted to share. “Yeah. Oh and Windy Weather Girl says tomorrow should be clear. Thought me and Red could put up the Mr. and Mrs.”

Red had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. “The what?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, you remember.”

And as Bob said this Red did remember.

The damn ceramic Christmas decorations Bob had bought the year he had moved back to Point Place. That Christmas in, celebration of him being back home Bob had gone all out with his Christmas decorations outside his house. The whole thing was covered in multicolored lights. There were plenty of plastic light up characters scattered over the lawn, big Christmas ornaments hanging from his trees which were also covered in little twinkle lights.

Red had said it looked like Christmas had thrown up on Bob’s house and the fire department had called the home a possible fire hazard.

Theses ceramic things had been one of the last decorations Bob found. There were three in total: a reindeer and Santa and Mrs. Claus. Since Bob only had room for two of the 8 foot decorations, he agonized over which one should be left out, until Kitty suggested that she and Red buy one so they could have a full set in the neighborhood. Red refused to have a deer he didn’t shoot near his home nor did he want some old lady without a first name, and so the Formans got Santa Claus.

Red would spend half the day dragging up the damn thing to the rooftop—it was heavier than what the real Santa Claus must have weighted—and it took another hour or two to make sure it was secured in place. And once that was done with he’d spend the other half of the day helping Bob set up the reindeer and Mrs. Claus.

For the past three years, the three decorations had adored the neighboring rooftops to wish the rest of the neighborhood and citizens of Point Place who drove by to see them, a Merry Christmas. But this year would be very different and Red thought Bob understood this.

“Bob,” Red was frowning slightly as he said once more, “we’re skipping Christmas.”

Bob just grinned, “I know but that doesn’t mean you’re not putting up decorations, right?”

“It means we’re not putting up decorations,” Red confirmed as his wife watched on worriedly.

“But Santa…” Bob’s jolly face dissolved into sadness.

Slowly, Red shook his head. “No Santa, Bob.”

“But…”

Another, wordless shake of the head.

“Okay, well…goodnight then,” Bob’s voice was sadder than it had when he’d been crying.

Watching Bob sulk back to his house with his head hanging low and his shoulders slumped, Kitty felt like she would soon dissolve into tears. She looked up at Red, wondering if maybe he felt just as bad as she did and if he did maybe she could convince him to at least put up the housetop Santa.

“There, that wasn’t too bad now, was it?” he asked her with a growing grin.

Kitty could not believe her eyes! One of their oldest, dearest friends was walking around with a broken heart thanks to the two of them and her husband was smiling? She was at such a loss for words, she answered his question with a shake of her head before marching off towards their house again and slamming the sliding door so hard that the glass shook.

Red jumped and cringed at the sound, he knew he was gonna pay for this later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Yay? Nay? A bit of both? Be sure to let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts and remember, leaving kudos is like leaving a hug :) 
> 
> Next chapter I think you guys will love, it's more of the gang being well, the gang. Stay tuned!


	6. What Can We Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the incredibly kind support, comments and kudos, that you gave the last chapter. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. Here's the new chapter, it's focused much more on the gang and for the next few chapters we'll definitely see more of the kids as well as Red and Kitty. Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by to read, please comment if you can, Enjoy!

  
_  
  
_

_December 10, 1983_  
_2:25 P.M._

“I can’t believe your parents are skipping Christmas,” Donna said to her boyfriend for the fiftieth time since they received the news five days ago.

She had said it every day, five times a day—or at least Eric felt like she had. He hadn’t really been keeping track, however, if he did suddenly start, he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out it had been said even more. At first, she hadn’t really been bothered by the idea but Eric noticed that these last two days his girlfriend had suddenly become very angered by his parents idea for the holidays. Even he had learned to accept their decision, that is of course after he went through the other five stages of grief.

This wasn’t the first time she had made this statement but it was the first time she had said it in front of all their friends.

It being a Saturday, the former group of teens tended to get together for part of the weekend every so often and Eric and Donna’s Madison apartment was the perfect spot in the middle to meet. They were currently seated in the living room, that was quite similar to the set up in the Formans’ basement only smaller and with better condition furniture.

Kelso had pulled up the chair at Donna’s desk to sit with the others. “Yeah, Eric, I know we’re always saying your dad is the Grinch and all but this time he really did it! He stole Christmas!”

“Yes, and the crumbs he left were even too small for a Fez,” added Fez who was somberly staring at the empty plate that had once held the first and only batch of Christmas cookies Kitty Forman has make this year.

He’d been carrying the plate around quite a bit these days and it was freaking out his friends, some more than others.

“I know, it’s weird,” Eric wasn’t about to argue with his friends. He may have accepted his mom and dad’s plans but that didn’t mean he didn’t think they were odd. He walked to the sofa with a soda in hand and took a seat. “I went by the other day, it’s a week into December and they don’t have a Christmas tree. Mom’s Christmas bells aren’t hanging up, there’s no cookies…the radio was playing Nat Cole King but he wasn’t even singing Christmas carols. I don’t know how they found a station that’s not playing Christmas music!” Eric exasperated, hands moving about in the air. “It’s…spooky!”

“I like it,” commented a smirking Hyde.

Seated on his lap, Jackie rolled her eyes and waved her own hand at him. “Ugh, don’t listen to him. He’s already looking into us doing this next year for Christmas.”

Jackie said the words to the group but her glare was sent towards Steven who merely smirked happily.

Donna couldn’t believe what she was hearing! Was this going to be the new trend now?

“And this doesn’t bother you, Jackie?” Donna knew her friend may have an eye for rich, expensive things like a cruise but also knew Jackie’s heart loved Christmas. She hoped the brunette would give her the answer she wanted to hear.

“Kinda, but really I’m just happy my puddin’ is seeing a future for us,” she snuggled closer to her man and they shared a quick loving peck on the lips causing their friends to groan in repulsion until Jackie brought the conversation back on topic. “Now, going back to the Formans skipping Christmas, I gave it some thought and I guess I get the no decorations part. After all, they’re tired and old, we don’t need them to fall and break a hip!” she declared, always caring for others. “What I don’t get is them not buying anyone any presents. Who doesn’t buy Christmas presents for people? And by people, I mean me.”

Staring at her from behind his shades, Hyde reminded, “Jackie, the Formans wouldn’t have been able to afford to but you anything off your list.”

“They can afford a cruise!” shouted an angry foreigner.

The dark haired beauty shook her head, “It doesn’t matter, Steven. Cheap presents are better than no presents!”

Hyde nodded at her words, noting them down in his head just in case he needed to remind her of them come Christmas morning.

“Guys, I know this is bad but there is a silver lining in all this that I think we may have overlooked,” Eric looked at the mostly unhappy faces around the room—Hyde just looked Zen. “With Mom and Dad skipping Christmas that means that for the first time ever, I won’t be getting a festive foot in the ass threat for Christmas! It’s like…” he pretended to be choked up. “It’s like there really is a Santa Claus.”

The Zen look on Hyde’s face’s scrunched into a look of disgust, “Man, you’re the reason they’re skipping it.”

“I can’t believe they’re really doing this!” Donna declared, sounding even frustrated than before.

Eric decided to ignore his own injured pride and focus instead on his girlfriend’s rage. “You know, I’m more shocked that Red was able to convince Mom to do it. She loves Christmas, I never would have thought she’d give it up.”

For the most part, everyone nodded in agreement.

“Guess, she was feelin’ pretty down about it,” commented Hyde.

He may have seemed to be the only one who didn’t mind his adopted parents skipping Christmas as much as the others did, but unlike the others he also seemed to the only one who felt guilty about being part of the reasons they’d made the plans in the first place.

“Maybe he convinced her in a sexy way,” Fez was the one to suggest, in a way to casual manner.

Kelso sat up straighter in his seat, “Oh, yeah! Like maybe he…”

“Oh come on!”

“Seriously, man?”

Arms crossed over her chest, Jackie glowered at her exes on the other side of the sitting area. “Does everything with you two always have to go back to sex?”

“Yes,” both men replied without missing a beat.

“And candy,” added Fez.

Nodding in approval, Kelso had his own addition to make, “And explosives.”

While Jackie rolled her eyes at the responses, the other woman in the room paid them no attention. Donna just continued to walk around the room, shaking her head in irritation with nearly every step she took.

“I’m just gonna say it,” the redhead suddenly stopped in her tracks, held out her open palms in front of her until they closed into fists, with the exception of her right index finger which she had pointed straight at Eric. “Your parents skipping Christmas is selfish!”

“Okay Donna, no offense but, why do you care so much? I mean it’s not like you’ve really ever cared about Christmas before,” Eric regretted the words the moment they left his lips. He wanted to stop them but they just spilled out without control like word vomit. Word vomit that was going to get him in big trouble.

“What? I can’t care about Christmas?” Donna’s fury was on the edge. “I care about Christmas, okay? Just like I care about my dad. And now that your parents have this ‘ _brilliant_ ’ plan of skipping Christmas, _my dad_ is upset that he can’t put up his rooftop decorations because _your_ _dad_ refuses to put up the most important piece of the display, Santa Claus!”

Fez’s brown eyes already looked blue and teary, “No Santa?”

“No Santa,” she confirmed.

“Man, first no gifts and now no Santa?” This was all getting too crazy for Kelso.

“What’re they doing?” Hyde feigned worry. “It’s like they’re trying to…skip Christmas.”

Eric didn’t feel like he could defend his parents when he was barely getting used to the idea, he could understand where his friends were coming from but he didn’t see a point in getting worked up about it anymore.

“Look Donna, I’m sorry about your dad and my dad,” he truly did feel bad about this, especially because it made Donna so upset—which would probably end up hurting him in the near future. “I know this is a tough idea to get used to but, what can we do?”

“That’s exactly it, Eric!” Jackie said, sounding loud and determined.

Having Jackie agree with him and with such enthusiasm more than spooked Eric a little. First his Mom agreed to not do Christmas this year and now Jackie was agreeing with him? What was the world coming to?

Jackie had her hand clenched into shaking fists, adding to her determination, “ _What can we do?_ ”

Now Eric understood what was going on and it wasn’t going down the greatest path. “No, Jackie, that’s not what…”

“Bup, bup, bup bup!” the younger woman held an open palm in front of him. “You’ve helped enough. Now Donna, what can we do?”

Donna heaved a sigh, rubbing her forehead before removing her hand. “I don’t know, Jackie. Look it’s not that I’m mad the Formans aren’t doing Christmas, I just don’t like how it’s upsetting my dad.” She paused, realizing she did have an answer to Jackie’s question. “I want my dad to be happy.”

“Okay, how would we do that?” Jackie asked though was already making a mental note to pick up some Christmas fudge for the man.

“Get the Formans to celebrate Christmas?” Her words sounded much more like another question that an answer—she knew it was an unlikely event. “But since I don’t see that happening, I’m gonna go study. Maybe getting good grades this semester will cheer him up, at least for a little while.”

With that said, Donna left to the bedroom in the back however, the gears in Jackie’s mind were too busy spinning at work to watch her friend leave.

“Okay Donna, you go study. Don’t worry, I’ve got this under control and even have a few extra helpers.” Jackie gave a mischievous smile as she looked over the group of four that she was left with.

Not liking the kind of smile that they saw Jackie wearing—it reminded them a bit of Red when he got an evil idea—Hyde and Eric exchanged worried looks between them. Worrying a lot less were Kelso and Fez, who were busy throwing mini marshmallows into each other’s open mouths. These four wouldn’t be as helpful as Santa’s elves but they would have to do for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Yay or Nay? Hope it's a yay! :D
> 
> Next chapter we'll see Jackie's plan taking action when she decides to bring Red and Kitty a not so little surprise.
> 
> Til next time, thanks for reading, please comment if you can, I'd love to hear from you and remember leave kudos, leave kindness!


	7. No Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that last chapter really flopped. I honestly thought it would do better since it was just the gang but isn't it always the chapters/stories you think people will love are the ones that never do that well. Oh well, thank you to findingpeterpan, who was the only person leave a comment on the last chapter and I think one or two people left kudos as well on the overall story thank you very much for that. 
> 
> I'm honestly not sure how much more I'll be updating this story. Christmas is over and I've suffered a big loss this past week where I've lost a piece of my heart, so the motivation to do much is zip. I know I need time to grieve and maybe writing will be help me with that but I'm not sure if it should be this story since the holidays are over, any input on this would be appreciated.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter.

_December 11, 1983_

_8:34 A.M._

Kitty piled another helping of scrambled eggs onto the already overfilled kitchen plate she held in her hands. She was so used to making enough food that would feed not only her and her husband but her two sons and their friends; however, since breaking their holiday plans to them the kids had started spending less and less time at the Forman home which meant there was more and more food left untouched. Since Kitty hated to be wasteful, she upped her husband’s serving to generous spoonfuls, she would have given herself some extra heapings too only she had a cruise trip she had to start dieting for!

“Here’re your eggs, honey,” she brought the plate over to where Red was seated in his usual spot at the table. “Sunnyside up with extra sunny!”

Red grinned at his breakfast and then up at Kitty. “Thanks, sweetheart. Where’s the pepper?”

“Right here,” Kitty said with a smile, stepping over towards the stove to grab the peppershaker and then promptly placing it into her husband’s open hand.

As his fingers clasped around the cold ceramic piece, Red frowned; a frown that grew even deeper when he got a better look at the piece. It was white and round with a cylinder shaped top hat and a much to jolly smiling face. Anyone who saw this happy face would have smiled right back but Red continued to scowl, looking like he’d just received a lump of coal in his hands.

“What the hell is this?” he wanted to know.

“This Red, is a peppershaker,” she replied, speaking slowly as she took the peppershaker into her hands and began to explain its functions. “You see you put the pepper inside here and then shake it over your food and the pepper comes out through these little holes here,” she proceeded to point out the two holes drilled into the little snowman’s top hat.

Rolling his eyes at the response Kitty seemed to think was so funny, Red grumbled, “I thought you packed that up with the other Christmas stuff.”

Kitty’s big smile retracted itself a bit. “Well, I was going to but…”she nervously gazed down at the little snowman peppershaker in her hands before lifting it up for Red to see, “Well, just look at his cute little face. How could you pack up a cute little like that?”

“By wrapping him in newspaper and sticking him in a box,” Red replied without missing a beat.

Again, Kitty smile fell as she desperately tried to hold onto the little piece of Christmas she had left in their house. She wanted to go on this cruise with her husband and understood that they would have to skip Christmas to do that, but she missed the holiday decorations in her home. So, she’d kept the little snowman out to give her a little bit of Christmas spirit. She planned on keeping it in the kitchen with her and it was small enough to go unseen, if Red hadn’t asked for pepper he probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

However, he’d seen it now and Kitty could already tell he was going to make her put it away, but she wasn’t going to do that without some kind of fight. It was a little tiny little snowman, he couldn’t really do that much damage.

“But Red, he’s a snowman, it’s not like he’s Santa Claus or a Christmas tree.” She hoped this point would fly with him. “He’s not really Christmassy, he’s…he’s _wintery_ , snowy…”

“Kitty, the minute we start making exceptions for even the tiniest Christmas decoration, it becomes a lead way for a whole truck load of the stuff in our house.”

His firm reminder made Kitty sigh, “Okay, okay, you’re right.”

She then proceeded to put up the mini Frosty, placing it on the shelf with the various other salt and peppershakers that she had collected over the years. A mental note was taken to pack him up after breakfast, but Kitty was sure that if she forgot Red would certainly remind her. With the snowman peppershaker up, Kitty grabbed a simple green cylinder pepper shaker and handed it to Red with a smile.

He smiled back at her, happy that the ordeal had not turned into a big fight, and took the seasoning to sprinkle over his eggs.

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Forman,”

Surprised to hear the voice of a visitor, the couple looked over at the sliding glass door and spotted Jackie Burkhart stepping into their home. While Red soon returned to his breakfast not taking much interest in the young woman’s arrival, Kitty was thrilled to have one her little chicken back in her coop.

“Oh, good morning, Jackie, what can I get for you?” she offered, eager to feed another mouth.

“Nothing today,” she shook her head but her beaming smile stayed in place, growing more and more as she spoke. “In fact, today is a little different because today _I have something for you_.”

“Oh?”

Jackie eagerly nodded her head before looking over her shoulder and calling out the open glass door, “Bring it in, Fez!”

Kitty stared intently at the door, craning her neck in different directions in attempt to catch a glimpse of Fez and whatever he was bringing in. It wasn’t every day that someone had something for her, which made her all the more excited. Red had also turned her attention to the side door, but with less excitement than his wife and more suspicion for the both of them.

The moment the loud one had stepped into their kitchen he had a feeling that she was up to something, but he never expected to see the sight that appeared before his wondering eyes as it walked through his kitchen door. The foreigner lugging in a seven-foot-tall evergreen pine tree!

Immediately Kitty’s hands flew to her mouth and her eyes grew wide with surprise and awe. She hurried towards Fez and the tree, ‘ooh’ing and ‘aw’ing like it was some magical Christmas find and not just some ordinary, undecorated, Christmas tree. Seeing how happy Mrs. Forman was had Jackie nearly bouncing in her place, her plan was working!

And while Jackie had been focusing on how happy their surprise had made Kitty, Fez had been cautiously watching Red, preparing himself for the moment he needed to hide behind the tree as a shield. It took a few moments before Red rose to his feet, not in an ‘I’m gonna kick your ass’ kind of speed but in a much slower, in shock kind of speed—and that was even scarier to watch.

“What the hell is that?” Red loudly growled.

Fez tried to cower behind the tree but Jackie was unafraid and unfazed.

She gave him the happiest of grins. “It’s a tree!”

“Oh, it’s a beautiful tree,” cooed Kitty as she touched its soft green needles before turning to her husband. “Red, isn’t it a beautiful tree?”

He continued to glower at the unwelcomed gift and the unwelcomed guests who had brought it. “It’s a dead tree.”

“Oh no, Mr. Red it is not a dead tree, it is a Christmas tree!” Fez corrected, thinking it might made Red happier to know they did not bring him a dead tree.

Red hooked up an eyebrow as he stared at the foreigner. “Christmas?”

In that exact moment Fez remembered the speech he and his friends had heard from Red in this very kitchen over a week ago. The Formans were not doing Christmas or anything that had the word Christmas in it. He had to fix this!

“No, no…no I said…holiday,” Fez covered his panic with a new smile when he thought up this word. “Yes, it is a holiday tree.”

“Holiday tree, huh?” repeated Red.

“Yes, now where shall I put it?” the foreigner began to look around the room as if the tree could be set up somewhere there in the kitchen.

“Well,” Red sort of shrugged his shoulders while shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’ll give you a hint. It’s somewhere my foot can help you set it up.”

“Aye no!” Fez cried, quickly making the connection, and hugging his Christmas tree shield closer to him.

“Now, Red,” Kitty scolded slightly then turned her attention the two little elves. “Kids, it was a very sweet gesture, but we did tell you we wouldn’t be buying a Christmas tree this year.”

“And you didn’t!” Jackie swooped in in front of the tree, unwilling to let it be taken away yet. “I bought it for you!”

Kitty blinked her eyes a few times at hearing this fact. “That, that is a good point.”

“I know,” squealed Jackie as she rapidly bobbed her head up and down, stopping only when the next important thought entered her head. “Oh, and you don’t you have to worry about paying me back. You can just add that money to what you planned to spend on my Christmas gift and get me an even better gift.”

Unsure of how to respond to that, Kitty looked up at Red who had already begun speaking.

“The reason we aren’t buying a tree is because we don’t want one, right Kitty?”

She looked over at the topic of discussion, “Well…”

“Kitty!” he frowned down at the woman who was supposed to be on his side.

“Well, Red, would it really be that terrible to have a tree inside the house?” her hair bounced a bit as she asked this question.

He didn’t even have to think about this, “Yes!”

“You have other plants in the house! Why not a tree?” pointed out Jackie, earning her an unseen glare from Red.

“Oh, that’s true,” Kitty nodded in the younger girl’s direction then looked back at Red. “We’ll treat this tree just like any other house plant,” she tried to make it sound like this really could work, but Red wasn’t looking very convinced. “We’ll take care of it, water it and maybe add just a few little ornaments…old ones! That way we won’t have to shop around and spend any money buying them.”

Jackie’s ears perked up at hearing talk about shopping. “Mrs. Forman, if you do decide to buy some though, they’re having a great sale on ornaments at the mall. They have really pretty ones.”

“Really?” The only thing Kitty loved more than shopping for Christmas gifts was shopping for Christmas decorations.

Red’s shoulders slumped and he practically groaned her name. “Kitty.”

She swung her head to look at him. “It’s a sale, Red! I would be saving money!”

“We’ll be saving money by going on this cruise, remember?” Red threw back at her before remembering sometimes honey worked better than vinegar. His voice suddenly softened and he slowly wrapped his arm around Kitty’s tense shoulders. “Around the Hawaiian Islands. Just you and me out on the open sea.”

As much as Kitty tried to fight it, the corners of her lips rose up into a smile and she rested her head against Red’s chest, closing her eyes and imagining the image he had painted for her. It really did sound like a lovely one.

“Ew!” Jackie cried out in disgust, pulling both Red and Kitty out of their moment.

Fez shrugged the shoulder of his arm that was not holding the tree. “I think it is very sexy,” he said which seemed to gross Jackie out even more, as well as Red and Kitty.

Though Kitty pulled away from her embrace she was nodding her head. “You’re right, Red. Jackie, Fez, we appreciate the thought but I’m afraid you’ll have to take the tree back.”

“Take it back where?” Jackie had her arms crossed over her chest, clearly unhappy with this suggestion. “I already bought it and we already have a tree in our apartment.”

“Aye, poor Wilbur does not have a home,” Fez said while looking on sadly at his new tree friend.

Shaking off the slightly confusing comment made by Fez, Kitty tried to think of another solution for the pair and more importantly the tree. It really was a beautiful tree and just because she couldn’t enjoy it didn’t mean that someone else shouldn’t.

“Oh! You could donate it to the hospital,” Kitty was eager to share an idea that involved her former work place. “I’m sure they’ll find a nice place to put it up there and it help cheer up the visitors and patients.”

Jackie was not impressed, she was even more upset that her plan hadn’t worked. “And have it get full of germs? No thank you.”

“We could put it in the basement!” Fez declared like he was wishing someone a happy birthday.

“Fez,” Jackie’s eyes lit up at this idea, “That is a great idea! We can put it in the basement for when we’re all down there.”

Like the Grinch hearing the little Who’s singing on Christmas morn, Red’s scowl reappeared at hearing the excitement the foreigner and the loud one had at finding a place to put their Christmas tree. However, his irritation was less at the fact that it had to do with decorating for Christmas and more at the fact of where they wanted to put up their Christmas decorations.

“You mean my basement?” his booming voice questioned.

The petite brunette’s smile dropped, “Oh yeah, I forget it’s his basement,” she shared and Fez nodded in agreement, neither one of them noticing the angry way Red continued to stare at them. Jackie waved her hand in the air, “Okay then we’ll just have to somewhere else to put it like…”

“Mornin’” a new voice mumbled.

Turning their heads, the group of four spotted Steven Hyde stepping into the kitchen from the basement. He was full dressed but still had sleep in his shade less eyes, he had yet to notice the Christmas tree in the room or his friend and girlfriend standing beside it, but Jackie had certainly noticed him and was even happier to see him than usual.

“Steven’s room!” she announced out loud.

Hyde frowned, suddenly becoming more alert at the mention of his room. “What about Steven’s room?”

“We’re gonna put this tree in there, puddin’,” she told him sweetly and then turned to Red, her sweetness gone and a determined expression in its place. “Mr. Forman, it may be part of your basement but it’s Steven’s room. Come on, Fez, hurry!”

“Jackie, that things not gonna fit in my room,” Hyde said, even though he was starting to think he was still asleep and this was a dream.

The tree could take up the whole little room, Jackie wasn’t going to let that stop her. “We’ll make it!

Jackie then ran off to the basement with Fez scurrying off behind her, taking the three with him—nearly dropping it at least twice before the three of them disappeared into the basement leaving an annoyed Red, a concerned Kitty, and a very confused Hyde.

Hoping to get some kind of explanation, Hyde looked over at Red, but the older man merely shrugged his shoulders.

“She’s your girlfriend,” was all Red could tell him.

Shoulders slumped, Hyde turned back around and headed back into the basement to find out what had made his girlfriend think putting a Christmas tree in his room was such a good idea. Hopefully, he’d be able to stop her before she and Fez started decorating it or worse started getting his room full of sticky tree sap, his steps hurried at this thought.

Red watched his adopted son’s hasty exit and then turned to his wife,

“You see Kitty,” he shook his index finger at her as well as the little snowman figure on the shelf that was behind her. “None of that would have happened if you would have packed that thing up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think of this chapter? Hopefully you liked it a little more than the last one.
> 
> Please let me know what you think in the comments. Also should I continue to post or wait till next holiday season?
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you liked, and remember, hug your loved ones a little tighter, especially those fur babies. <3

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? Yay? Nay? Be sure to let me know your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!


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